Yes, that was then, this is now. There was a time when Jewish, Catholic, Asian, etc. men also could not gain a place at the top. Despite being qualifed, like yesterdays women they weren't hired either. If hired, they weren't promoted.
Times change. There was never any huge Catholic or Jewish movement to do this. It was just that over a period of time Catholics and Jews became "real Americans" (smirk). The truth was that it hurt business more to keep non-Protestants out than to include them. The time had arrived for people who weren't WASPs to arrive at the top.
The same paradigm holds for women. The times became right. But not because of a bunch of noisy, anti-American feminazis. It's just that America had grown. Like it had grown for the Catholics, Asians, and Jews.
They traveled in the wake of the Civil Right revolution. Almost none of them risked, as blacks did, life and limb for their cause. Compare the treatment of the ‘60s feminists with the treatment of the suffragettes at the turn of the century.